Joke Silva: An actor’s salary can’t fund lifestyle flaunted on social media

Joke Silva, a popular Nollywood actress, says the lifestyles flaunted on social media by celebrities cannot be funded by earnings from acting.

Silva, who is married to Olu Jacobs, a fellow Nollywood veteran, made this known in an interview with Genevieve Magazine.

“Don’t be deceived by what goes on on social media. Obviously, there is something else such actors are doing, perhaps other businesses to shore up their income,” she said.

“The reality is that on the earning capacity of an actor in Nigeria, you cannot have that sort of lifestyle in this economy. Yes, part of our industry is to have glamour but also the other part is to have reality.”

When asked about body shaming in the industry, Silva who is the MTN Project Fame house principal, said she lost roles because people found it strange to work with her face.

“Of course I have lost a lot of roles, not because of my colour or body but because of my face. People find it a strange face to work with.

“It is not your conventional fine face and in the early years I didn’t know how to handle the face and as a result of that people found it easier to use me as a character actor.

“I was bothered because I was being cast for “Mama” roles. At that age, I was meant to be diverse in my role but I was already boxed in.”